If another planet is out there, this telescope could help find it
Friday, 25 April 2025 ()
Some scientists are convinced that beyond Neptune, there's a planet they've yet to see. This so-called "Planet 9" is so far away, it would be a faint object. The stretch of sky researchers would have to search is huge. But a new astronomical facility on a mountaintop in Chile could help tackle the search. The NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory has been under construction for years. Now, scientists are finetuning its instruments so the telescope can begin its 10-year mission of taking images of almost the entire southern sky.
*Read more of science correspondent Nell Greenfieldboyce's reporting **here**.**
*Want to hear more stories about the mysteries of space? Email us and let us know at shortwave@npr.org.
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